


The Requirements of Healing

by LettersByTheLake



Category: Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda) - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Exhaustion, Fluff, Gen, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Hyrule has self confidence issues, Legend Cares, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:14:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24289528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LettersByTheLake/pseuds/LettersByTheLake
Summary: Hyrule doesn't tell the group how much healing them exhausts him, he's just happy doing whatever he can to help.
Relationships: Four & Hyrule & Legend & Sky & Time & Twilight & Warriors & Wild & Wind (Linked Universe), Hyrule & Legend (Linked Universe)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 290





	The Requirements of Healing

The battle had been a difficult one. The infected monsters seemed to grow stronger and more ruthless every time they fought, and each battle seemed to leave them weaker and more injured than the last. Not that the monsters were anywhere near skilled enough to beat them of course, but certainly enough to leave a few of them bleeding.

Time and Four were talking together to the side of the clearing in which the group were resting, probably improving strategies for next time. Legend was sitting on the ground clutching a bleeding gash on his leg, Warriors was talking to Wind and Sky nearby, clearly trying to ignore the pain of what looked like a broken arm, and Wild, ever- well, ever _wild-_ had as usual bitten off more than he could chew and was bleeding rather alarmingly from his head. His eyes were unfocused and dazed and Twilight, who was kneeling next to him all but holding him up, looked very worried. Him first, Hyrule thought, and he made his way over to the pair.

“Ah, thank Hylia, ‘Rule,” grinned Twi as he looked up to see the younger hero walking over, “do you think you could help him out, he doesn’t look too good.” Although Twi wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of magic, when it helped his friends, particularly his wild protégé, his misgivings seemed to mysteriously go out the window.

“Rude,” mumbled Wild causing the other two to look at him. He was swaying from where he sat and wasn’t focusing on anything. A trickle of blood was dripping from his head and into one eye, and yet he made no move to wipe it away.

Hyrule wrinkled his nose.

“Yeah, I’ll see what I can do,” he said with a smirk. Wild was such an idiot sometimes. He placed his hands on either side of his friend’s head and felt the familiar warmth trickle from his chest, through his arms, to the tips of his fingers and finally into the blonde hero. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling when it was happening, in fact, the life spell felt warm and comforting as it flowed through him. It was the feeling that came with it that was the problem. It took so much out of him, left him exhausted and in desperate need of sleep.

As his travel companion’s head wound knitted up before their very eyes, Hyrule felt wave after wave of extreme weariness, small sections of his own lifeforce chipping away and flowing right into Wild alongside the healing. It wasn’t enough to do any serious damage, but it definitely left him feeling a little shaky.

He gave a small smile once it was done and Wild’s eyes started to focus properly, and he tried to hide the weariness that had settled in his bones. They couldn’t know what it did to him; they were all such big, courageous heroes, so much more than Hyrule could ever be. All he had to offer to the group was his magic, and if they knew it weakened him, they might not let him do it anymore. If that happened, he would feel absolutely useless.

“Woa, thanks ‘Rule! That Moblin had a proper swing on him,” Wild said, wiping the drying blood from his face and out of his eyes.

“Yeah well, maybe you should have waited to hear War’s plan before you charged in there by yourself with a half-broken weapon.”

Now that he knew Wild was going to be alright, Twi stepped out of mother mode and into angry mentor mode. Hyrule did not want to witness this. He walked away quietly and left the sounds of Twilight’s angry lecture and Wild’s sheepishly defensive retorts in the background.

What he wanted more than anything was to sit down in the shade and rest for a while, but he knew that wasn’t an option. Warriors’ expression had turned from vaguely painful to a full-on grimace and he was hugging his arm to his chest. That needed fixing, he was never going to be able to handle a sword like that.

“Hey, ‘Rule,” said Sky, looking up as he came over, “your sword fighting was strong out there.” Hyrule grinned appreciatively. A high compliment indeed from the wielder of the Master Sword.

“Not too bad yourself,” he replied. Sky had, as usual, taken the floor with his unequalled swordsmanship and felled more monsters than anyone.

“I came over to heal War, you look like you’re in pain,” he said turning to face the blonde strategist.

“Yeah he’s been complaining a lot,” said Wild with a cheeky smile.

“I have not!” replied Warriors angrily, “Er, but it would be great if you help just a teensy bit ‘Rule,” he added sheepishly.

Hyrule laughed and put his hands on his arm. He could feel the warmth spread through him again and he felt the small snaps of the bone realigning in Warriors’ arm. Renewed exhaustion flowed through him as he stopped and watched Warriors flex his newly healed arm.

“Thanks,” he said, admiring it as if he’d never seen that particular body part before.

“No problem,” Hyrule replied, and it wasn’t a problem, not really. Seeing his friends healed, taking their pain away, it was all worth it. So what if he got a little tired.

Warriors grinned and put a grateful hand on Hyrule’s shoulder.

“Right, I’m going to talk tactics with Time,” he said, getting up. Hyrule watched him go. He was still flexing his arm, clearly impressed.

“You alright, ’Rule? You look beat,” said Sky, studying his face.

“Oh, yeah, I’m just a little tired out from the fight,” he said plastering a smile on his face. He barely had enough energy to do that.

“Ok,” said Sky, still looking worried, “take it easy then.”

He said he would and walked away from the two of them before they could question him further.

He went around the group checking if any of the others needed healing. Time had a couple of nasty scrapes that he gratefully allowed Hyrule to close up and Four had a deep black and blue bruise on his arm that disappeared completely once Hyrule had been at it. Each time he healed, he grew significantly wearier.

Finally, he walked over to Legend who was sitting with his back to a tree, clutching his wounded knee and staring into the distance, clearly lost in thought.

He quickly snapped out of it as Hyrule approached.

“Oh no, no way, I am not letting you use any more healing magic today,” he said quickly.

“What do you mean,” asked Hyrule.

“I saw you healing everyone, and I can see how much it’s taken out of you,” he replied, scowling, “you should be more careful.”

Legend had noticed a while ago how tired Hyrule became after using the life spell and had quickly begun to refuse any treatment from him.

“I don’t understand why you don’t just tell them how much it affects you; we have healing potions and a couple of fairies, we can make do without you killing yourself over it,” Legend continued exasperatedly.

“It’s fine, it’s really not that bad!” Hyrule insisted, though even speaking was using up the last dregs of energy in his system, “Let me heal you, it won’t take much, it’s only a scrape.”

“Yeah, exactly! It’s only a scrape, you don’t need to be healing every single cut and bruise, it’s ridiculous.”

“It’s the least I can do,” said Hyrule quietly.

“Oh, don’t start with that bullshit, ‘Rule, you’re just as worthy as the rest of us,” replied Legend angrily.

Hyrule didn’t say anything. His body seemed to sag with tiredness, and he really couldn’t be dealing with an argument right now. He spoke again quietly.

“Let me just heal your knee, it won’t-“

“No!” cried Legend forcefully, “what is it with you, you’ve as much a death wish as Wild.”

Time interrupted them then as he spoke to the group.

“Is everyone ok to move on? I wish we could rest more but we need to start heading off now if we’re going to make it to the village before nightfall.”

They all nodded except Legend who started to open his mouth to say something.

“Wait, what are you doing,” asked Hyrule suspiciously.

“I’m going to tell them that you need to rest for a bit longer.”

“What?! No, you can’t,” he hissed back. Although he was certainly going to struggle on the next leg of the journey, the embarrassment of holding the others back would be a thousand times worse.

“You’re dead on your feet, don’t be stupid,” said Legend furiously, but the others had already started packing up and moving along the woodland path.

“I’ll be fine,” assured Hyrule, though Legend looked doubtful.

“Ok, but if you start feeling worse, _please_ tell me.” His angry expression had melted into one of concern.

Hyrule smiled.

“Deal.”

Hyrule’s legs might have been a little shaky at first, but as they got into their familiar rhythm, he was fine. That didn’t stop Legend from insisting he carry his bag for him and shooting him worried glances every few seconds. Hyrule decided to ignore it, none of the others were going to notice as they were at the back of the group, and to be honest, it was nice to know he cared so much. It sent a warm tingling feeling through his body, rather like the feeling the spells gave him.

He stumbled once and Legend was immediately there at lightning speed to catch him. With a scowl, he threatened once again to tell the group, but Hyrule insisted it was just him being clumsy. And it was. Clumsiness caused by being absolutely exhausted.

A sudden shout from the front made everyone’s attention snap towards Time.

“Bokoblins!” he yelled down the path.

“Aw man, can they not just give us a break?” groaned Warriors who was walking in front of Hyrule and Legend. They unsheathed their swords and ran, for the second time that day, into battle.

It didn’t take long to defeat the monsters this time. There were smaller numbers and, although vicious, they weren’t quite as strong as the horde they had fought off earlier. They fought together as they had done a hundred times before and their opposition’s number’s depleted quickly. Despite that, Hyrule’s ever waning energy levels didn’t help, and by the time it was done he could barely lift his arm to sheath his sword back in its scabbard.

He turned to Legend.

“Hey, that wasn’t too-“

He stopped when he saw the state his friend was in. A huge slash went across the whole the front of his tunic, bleeding dark liquid onto the fabric.

“Legend!” he cried, getting the attention of the others who all rushed over. Legend looked almost surprisedly at the gash on his front; his eyes widened as his knees finally gave out and Time caught him.

Adrenaline pumped through Hyrule’s veins and he was frozen for a moment to the spot.

“Hyrule!” someone said urgently, pulling him out if his shock. He knelt down beside Legend and Time; the latter was muttering into Legend’s ear soothingly.

“You’ll be ok, you’ll be alright.”

And he would, Hyrule knew. He had healed worse than this.

He put his hands on Legends chest and at once started to pour healing magic through them. It was warm and reassuring and it clouded his mind.

“No,” Legend croaked through the mist, “no, make him stop.” Good. He was getting better.

The fog in his mind started to close around his vision now, and he knew he wouldn’t last much longer. But he was so close, Legend was almost healed, he could do this.

Eventually, there was nothing left to heal, the formerly open and bleeding wound had knitted itself together leaving not even a scar in its place. He could finally let go. Darkness clouded his vision now and through the ringing in his ears he could hear Legend shouting. He couldn’t quite understand what he was saying but he sounded frantic. He hoped he was ok.

Someone caught him as he fell, and the darkness ensnared his mind.

He woke up to tweeting birds and the smell of fresh mornings. He felt blankets around him, cosy and warm, and the sound of heavy snoring close by. He opened his eyes.

Wild was sitting over a cooking pot, chatting to Twilight and Time. Sky, Four and Wind were sitting in a group nearby, Four mending one of his shoes. Sky must have taken the last watch or he definitely wouldn’t be awake right now. Warriors was sleeping next to Hyrule, the source of the snoring, and Legend was sitting up to his other side, lost in thought, staring into the distance, his face full of tension.

When he saw Hyrule was awake, the effect was immediate. The worry melted from his features and he smiled in relief.

“Hyrule’s awake,” he informed the others. Warriors snoring stopped abruptly, and he sat up, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. The others started to come over to check on him.

Hyrule, with help from Legend, sat up himself and looked at everyone, embarrassed. He never did like to be the centre of attention.

“How’re you doing?” asked Wild. He looked guilty for some reason, not quite meeting Hyrule’s eyes.

“I’m fine,” he said. It wasn’t entirely true. He had a splitting headache and every muscle in his body was stiff and sore.

“Why in Hylia’s name did you not say healing us hurt you?” asked Four accusingly.

Hyrule looked at Legend.

“You told them?” He felt ever so slightly betrayed.

Legend just looked at him incredulously.

“You collapsed; it was pretty obvious!”

Hyrule sighed and then remembered why he had had to use his healing magic in the first place.

“How are you anyway?” he asked Legend.

He looked at him exasperatedly.

“Well _I’m_ fine, _you_ on the other hand almost died.”

“It was pretty reckless, Hyrule, even for you,” said Time.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” asked Warriors, looking upset, “I wouldn’t have made you heal my arm yesterday if I’d known.

“Yeah and I could’ve just taken a red potion,” said Wild. At least he knew why he looked so guilty now.

Hyrule could feel himself turning red.

“I’m sorry, I would’ve said something if I knew it would slow everyone down. But I had to heal Legend, and Wild you were so out of it yesterday, you needed help, and War, you were in so much pain, I couldn’t just leave you.”

“I’ve handled much worse than a broken arm,” argued Warriors.

“No using your spells in non-emergency situations from now on Hyrule,” said Time firmly, “and definitely no more healing small cuts and bruises that we are perfectly capable of handling ourselves.”

“Yeah and _tell_ us next time before you go and collapse from exhaustion,” interjected Four.

Hyrule sighed and eventually nodded. He looked at the ground and guilt flooded him.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

“It’s ok,” said Twilight ruffling his hair, “but don’t do it again, we need you in the group.”

The others mumbled their agreement and Hyrule around at them. A gave a small smile as he took in their serious, earnest faces. He really was lucky, he thought, to have so many people care about him.


End file.
